Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-05-06
DAIRYING.
Ho,c to Kcc,, 1E1t,:.

Milk was not intended by nature 10 be
exposed to air, but to be conducted as
directly and speedily as possible from the
milk-ducts of the parent to the stomach of
the offspring. As a liquid containing q
good deal of the element nitrogen, it is
liable to early decay, or, in other words, to
changes in its chemical and mechanical
condition. The temperature it has when
MIXED from the COW is favorable to its
decomposition. Above or below blood-heat
its decay is more or less retarded; and, by
passing q volume of oxygen through it, it is
made to keep the longer. Left alone, it is
a suicidal sort of thing. constantly inviting
its own destruction, SO to speak. It drinks
in greedily foul odors from the atmosphere,
and provides just the food that bacteria
delight in. IT is determined not to remain
in its original form, for it begins to throw
OF its cream Mt n C III coming to rest.
10 chemists it is known as q TRANSITION
compound" seeking fresh conditions and
combinations. 1t is c%ongenial food to the
fermentive germs that float in the air, md
contains within itself q principle that is an
did to digestion, which is only another
word for decomposition.
Such being the case, milk requires in
telligent treatment if We want it to remain
as it is when we get it. Assuminathat it
is sweet and fresh when we first take it in
hand, the first thing to do is to cool it; and
for his reason, by lowering the tempera-
ture. the ferments to which it is exposed
operate much slower, or do not operate at
all. These ferments get hold of it best Mt
the heat it is at when it comes from the
COW. They need warmth, us most things
do. for their fruition; and as we cannot get
rid of them, because they float about in
embryo in any place where air is, the next
best thing is to deprive them of warmth.
III we boil milk, and Immediately enclose
it in On air-tight vessel, it will remain
sweet for years; but it will sour when it is
re-eXposed to the air at GO degrees F. and
upwards. If we freeze it, and keep il
frozen, it will remain sweet rs long as we
like: bat, when it comes to thaw, the effect
Of the freezing is to hasten its decompo-
sition. This, indeed, holds good with
butter and flesh and vegetables, with any
perishable article. in fact. 1t is their
mechanical combination which the freezing
has interfered with, and this is an aid to
chemical decay.
The effect Of a strong ray of light falling
on milk is TO develop the fermentive organ
isms that lead to the decomposition of the
liquid. They are of q vegetable character,
and need light as we'll as warmth to enable
them to thoroughly do their work. 1t is,
therefore, expedient TO keep milk in the
shade, not necessarily in a dark room, but
AWAY from the light of a window. Butter
and eggs, too, are injured, though less
quickly, by a strong light; and they sh! ,uld
not be exposed TO its influence.
1t is generally considered advisable that
m~llk-rooms should be well ventilated; but
the air must be as pure MS We can have it,;
otherwise they are better without the ven-
tilation. Whatever the air is, SO will be
the milk, after a time. If it is tainted with
any sort of an odor, the odor of flesh. of
vegetables, of mint-sauce, of parattine, of
smoke, anything, in fact. the milk will taste
of it. Intelligent people who make butter
clean vessels, in q pure atmosphere, in a
cool room, while the cream is rising. This
is absolutely necessary in order to keep a
p~ure-favered butter that will keep as long
as it ought. A stufy atmosphere in q room
is abominable; ventilation with impure air
is equally SO; and in either of these cases,
if they are unavoidable, it is better 10 keep
the milk corked up in q bottle, previously
cooling it we'll, and stirring it as it cools.
It is OF the first importance that milk
should be put into vessels that are scrupu-
lousy clean, and they need cleaning after
milk as much as after almost anything
else. BY putting new milk into a vessel
that has been more or less soured with old
milk, the new is at once introduced, SO to
speak, to the old %leaven, that will turn it
all sour very soon. Before such q vessel is
employed to contain a fresh supply of milk,
it should be washed in boiling water, to
kill all the germs Of sourness, both the
Tactic acid and the bacteria that it maycon-
tain, and then in cold water, TO cool it. 1t
is hardly necessary to say that the water
itself must be clean; this is obvious on the
face of it.
And again: The room must be cool, say
not more than 60 degrees, if possible, or it
is not of much use to cool tho milk. which
will always rise. or fall to the temperature
of the air that surrounds it. At the same
time, it is true that cooling the milk 10 80
degrees or SO will preserve it the longer.
even in u room that is GO degrees or up
wards. Cooled milk in clean vessels, and
in a cool room whose uir is fresh and
sweet, will keep we'll for a day or two. The
cream, however, which is i'll mechanical
rather than in chemical combination with
the milk, will rise to the surface unless the
milk is frequently stirred.-Sciencc News.
POULTRY-RAISING.
Care Of Poultry.
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